The sweetest COWGIRL around!

It's official... Karly is now 1!! Can you believe how fast the time went by?! To celebrate her actual birthday (I felt like we HAD to do something on her special day) we took her out for dinner to one of her favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse. There she got to listen to country music, eat yummy rolls, shredded cheese from Mommy's salad and an ice cream sundae, see the waiters and waitresses do a line dance, and they even sang Happy Birthday to her as she sat on a pony saddle. Again, she just hated all the attention, NOT!! : ) Happy 1st Birthday to one of the sweetest cowgirls around! Can't image loving any one else the same!!

XOXOX to Karly!

Giddy up Cowgirl! ; )

Karly's 1st Birthday Party!

Not sure even where to start with this one...EVERYthing was PERFECT! The company, the food, the LOVE, the gifts, the friends, the family, the pictures, the weather, and the memories that we will always have to share... EVERYthing! Thanks to everyone that came to help us celebrate Karly's first birthday! I can't even believe that she is going to be one year old tomorrow! (Don't tear up now!) I know if Karly could talk, well I guess I should say if you could understand what she was saying because boy does she talk, she would be so thankful for everything that day. Going into it, I thought she would clam-up and be kinda fussy because there was so much going on but I truly couldn't have asked for a better baby! And boy did she soak up all the attention! Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Karly is so blessed to be LOVED by so many people! The pictures say it all! : )

It was too funny to see all the monkey stuff that she got!

Karly on her new SUPER soft rocking cow! She LOVES it!

The "popper" was one of her favs. She thought she was pretty hot stuff walking around with it and showing off!

Rather than diving right in, she decided not too get her hands messy at all! She took each bite using only her mouth, no hands! And after every bite, she waited for everyone to clap and say, YEA!!!! She was a riot! : )

Then Daddy and Mommy leaned in for a bite and she TOTALLY pushed our faces away at the same time! There was no sharing this cake! : )

Not too messy for a first birthday cake! I have a feeling she's going to be ALL girl! And really wouldn't have it any other way! We love you Karly Nicole!

Gotta love Florida!

We had a GREAT time in Florida visiting Nonnie and Dja Dja. This was Karly's second trip to Florida on an airplane but the first visit was only at 6 weeks so needless to say she is a TOTALLY different child!

Of course Mommy was prepared for the worst and she actually did good. Better on the way there than on the way home. Thanks to Daddy and Uncle Jeff she spent most of the trip there playing with the air that was coming from the vents above, singing her ABC's, reading books, and saying "Hiiiiiiiii!" or "Heyyyyyy!" to everyone that she could come into contact with. (So much for teaching her not to talk to strangers!) Lucky we had a lovely couple behind us that didn't mind playing peek-a-boo with her as well. On the way home she insisted on being on the floor in front of me.( Then when she got stuck under the seats in front of us, we decided that maybe that wasn't the best decision... We made it back and were all pooped!

While we were there, we spent some time each day going to the beach. Karly liked the water but only when Uncle Jeff was holding her. I think it was the big wave that got her all wet when she didn't trust Mommy to play with her anymore. Sorry! The sand was another story...must have been the texture of it on her feet that she didn't like at all! Daddy was the only CRAZY one that got totally in the ocean and went boogie boarding. He wanted to bring Karly...maybe next time!

She got to spend some quality time with her Nonnie on Saturday while the rest of us were off to "try" and go crabbing! Thanks for trying Dad! Maybe next time! ; )

We went shopping at Ron Jon's and Karly got her very first official Ron Jon's shirt. Oh yeah, she a surfer girl now! : )

Thanks for a great trip to Florida Nonnie and Dja Dja! We miss you bunches already!

The reason why babies aren't born with more hair...

Okay so we had to have the girls try on Tati's wig that she was going to wear to work Halloween night...so cute yet so weird!! They look like little baby dolls!

Karly's First Halloween!

For birthday purposes I cannot share a couple of the BEST photos of Karly's first Halloween but I thought I would go ahead and post a few... Halloween was super fun!! We spent the evening at Uncle Jay and Aunt Tati's house playing, eating, taking pictures, and even doing just a little trick-or-treating. Bet you can't guess what she was...I'll give you 3 tries and if you don't get it...you don't know us nor Karly well enough! : ) Her baby cousin Gabi was a Giraffe part-time and a lady bug the other. She was super cute too!! Just a few pics to share...enjoy! Be expecting a 1st birthday invite soon! Can you believe it, one year old?! Pretty crazy! Time flies by!!

Movement Night

Karly and I attended Movement Night at our Parents as Teachers building last night and it was a BLAST!! By far, the inflatable jumper was her favorite! (Thanks to her Aunt Hollie and cousins Rylee & Avrey) It was really for kiddos ages 1-2 but I figured she was close enough. She loved when there were other kids in it so they would do the jumping for her and she was just along for the ride. You try and stop her from doing something that she wants to do! ; ) We're in for it, I know! She also crawled through a tunnel, rode a tricycle, and played with lots of fun new toys! Daddy stayed at home to clean and cook supper while his girls were out playing! We even got a free pumpkin out of the deal! I LOVE our Parents as Teachers!

I LOVE the jumpy pit! Cheese!

Mommy barely got a photo cause I went through the tunnel so fast!

In the middle of banging the blocks and saying "Yeaaaaaaa!"

Monkey Buckets!

As many of you know, Karly has had a nickname given to her by her Daddy since birth...Monkey Buckets that is! So now everywhere we go and we see clothing, toys, etc... with monkeys on it, for some odd reason, Mommy thinks that she has to have it! (Really just another reason to shop!) So here's to her new monkey pj's that were just too cute to pass up! Thanks again Kohl's! I really just need to STOP going there! : ) By the way, Karly now waves hello and goodbye to EVERYONE and EVERYTHING!

Karly and I have a sickness...

A sickness for shopping that is! I can't seem to quit buying clothes for her and she LOVES it!! One of our most favorite places to shop right now is Kohl's. I've never been a huge fan of Kohl's for myself, but they have some of the cutest, most reasonable priced outfits for babies. The Jumping Bean line (you can mix and match tops and bottoms for $5 each) is a hit and there are many others. So we just happened to get a 30% off EVERYTHING coupon in the mail and were headed there for some new warm jammies for this winter size 12 months. Needless to say, we only ended up with two pj's but several other outfits that we just couldn't resist! Stephen is going to be in trouble his whole life cause his girl LOVES to shop, just like her Momma! I am loving the baby doll sweater look with tights for this winter. If only I could find matching outfits in my size! : 0 Above is one of my ULTIMATE favs! Can you tell she just loves it! More to come...

Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we took a trip to Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch near Liberty and I have to say that I had no clue how much fun it would be! Even though it was pretty chilly for the little lady, she was such a trooper! We were there for about 4 hours and did it ALL! We went with a friend of Stephen's from work and his wife and 4 year old little boy. After being there for just a little while I already starting planning for our trip back nexy year and how much fun that would be because Karly will be able to do so much more by herself! Needless to say, we ALL had a ball and I got a ton of GREAT pictures! She was excited from the moment we arrived...

So we started off by going through the petting zoo. I'm sure she was thinking that those were all pretty funny looking dog-dogs. Daddy fed them as she just watched, I really didn't want her very first experience of a petting zoo to turn into a scary finger biting thing... We saw goats, chickens, pigs, sheep, and a donkey. As we were walking away the donkey decided to tell us good-bye and she didn't like that at all!

Then it was off to the play-time things... First off we had to have a pumpkin face picture, then Daddy took her down the slide, she got to ride a rubber made horse, walk through the corn stalk maze, etc... It was all too fun!

By the time we were finished playing, we were all pretty cold! She was quite the snuggle bug! Thank goodness we went with experienced Mommies and Daddies that brought a pull along wagon and extra blankets. All but her hands seemed to be doing fine. We took a break and stopped in for some hot cocoa and treats to get warm again.

So after we were all warm again, it was off to the train ride. It took you through the pumpkin patch, explaining all the different things going on. Karly's first offical train ride! Don't look like you're having too much fun Karly! : )

Off to the most important activity of the day, the hay ride out to the 50 acre pumpkin patch to pick the perfect one! She loved the ride out and had even more fun out in the field. For some reason she loves to look at pumpkins! Total photo op for some great Fall pictures!



On our way out we had to stop and drive the bus! The only thing she was missing was the music to dance to while she was driving! This was by far her favorite thing! Daddy had to literally pull her hands off the steering wheel to leave! I think if she could talk now she might want to be a school bus driver when she gets older! Let's keep our expectations high and hope this changes...

So that's our fun-filled trip to the pumpkin patch for the first time! I can't wait until next year when she'll be running around talking about all the fun things that we did! Happy Fall to everyone!

Thanks Mommy and Daddy for the BESTEST first trip to the pumpkin patch!! : )

10 down, 2 to go!

Can you believe it...my little lady is already 10 months old! And I'm already super excited but starting to stress about her first birthday party! Who would have thought that being a Mommy could be so great!! Just for an update... Karly is still breaking my heart each day that I leave her at the sitters, but Patty swears it's only for about 20 seconds until I am gone that she stops! Other than that she is doing well... We went through a rough spot where she wasn't eating for Patty, but things are getting better. At first, she was refusing to take a bottle with my milk from her at all. Then one day when I went to get her I tried giving her the bottle (in front of Patty) to see if it was her or the fact that she didn't want the bottle period and guess what...Karly not only started drinking the bottle right away, but then stopped, looked right at Patty, gave her a HUGE smile, and literally started laughing! Okay, who's in charge here?! Sometimes she is too smart for her own good! So now we are not even talking about the "b" word or the "m" word (bottle/milk) in front of her and she has been getting a little better each day. As far as new things she can do, it's only EVERYTHING now! She is all but walking! She gets to the back door to try and go outside with the dogs before you can even turn your head! She is clapping, crawling, standing byself, walking to and from everything if it's within a few steps, and getting into it all! We had our Parents As Teachers visit this past Tuesday and she said that her language skills were advanced for her age...saying and putting connections with what words mean too well. I think, actaully I know, we are going to have our hands full and Ms. Shauna agreed with me! She's still the ULTIMATE ham and smiles constantly! She says: Dada (which is her favorite word : (, Momma, dog-dog, baby, yeah!, and hi! Time has flown by and she gets smarter and more loved each day!